I always loved the idea of the Canine Space Patrol Agents. They had a little one panel cameo in the recent The Sandman Overture series. I loved that they were treated as seriously as the Green Lantern Corps etc.

Action Comics #588 - #591 & #598 - I've been a Superman fan since I was very young but didn't start reading comics until I was a teenager. Then, it was mostly X-Men books. So a lot of the Superman comics are still pretty fresh to me. These were all fun, done-in-one stories. The editorial boxes seemed to indicate that they connected to other Superman stories going on at the time but all of these stories could have been read as self contained. Some of them even connected with each other. Ty Templeton handled inking duties on issue #598 which added something a little different to Byrnes pencils but I really enjoyed the combination of John Byrne on pencils and Dick Giordano on inks with the other issues. There were some unique stories like issue #591 which seemed to be trying to clear up some issues with the Legion of Superheroes in the Post-Crisis DCU and #598 which was the first appearance of Checkmate. I will definitely pick up the remainder of these issues if can ever find them cheap. They were quite good reads. I especially like the done-in-one nature of the stories and just look at those covers.

Wolverine #90 - A while back when Adam Kubert visited us for a Fan Chat someone asked him what work he was most proud of. He responded with this issue. First, I tried reading it in Marvel Unlimited and it really didn't work due to the huge gatefolds. So I put it on my list of back issues to find cheap someday. I finally found a copy last week and really loved it. The whole issue is this great fight between Wolverine and Sabertooth that ends with Wolverine lobotomizing Sabertooth by finally popping that middle claw. It even had a great cover collaboration between Kubert and the Hildebrandt Brothers. I highly recommend it for a good action romp.

I think Hama was pretty consistently great over a long period of time on that book. Every time I go back and read one of his issues, I'm not disappointed. He reminds me a lot of Claremont in that respect.

Marrow continues to play the 'hard-woman' and feels left out when the crew decide to go for a trip into town. Maggot does have some strange dialogue but that could just be because I'm not all that familiar with South African lingo but on the whole this is a much improved book.

So the team are chillaxing by the pool when Wolvie senses something isn't right. Off he trots and wouldn't you know it, he bumps into a school inspector who has come to take a look around. Jason Aaron would use this device about 16 years later in his Wolvie and the X-Men book. Coincidentally Bachelo draws that issue as well!

I use to love me some old school Alpha Flight but how would this new incarnation fare? Not so great I'm afraid. What we get is a poorly constructed fight issue with some pretty rubbish dialogue. Rather than mistaken identities, it's the old brain washed heroes routine.